This probably is so because in days of yore, the calendar of different civilizations started with the Vernal Equinox which occurred around early April.

The traders of the world, continuing their tradition, have therefore been using April 1st as the start date for their Commercial Calendar which has continued to this date.

Time to take stock

The end of the previous Commercial Calendar is the time that we take stock of all our dealings. This is commonly known as the stock taking period. It is the time to take stock as we transition from one year to another, to carry forward what is needed for the next year, our future.

The traders take stock of their goods.

Similarly, in our personal lives too, there is need for a time, when each of us can take stock of our personal lives. Take stock of the situation, events and progress around us. Take stock of where we stand and where we are heading and at the end of our personal stock taking, discard unnecessary baggage and carry forward only what is of relevance to bring prosperity and happiness unto oneself and others.

So, this transition period is a period of taking stock of oneself, one’s situation and one’s environment.

Transition – Sandhi

India, through the ages has given a great deal of significance to the concept of transition and the transition phase.

The concept of transition from one stage to another, is known as Sandhi in the Indian thought.

Starting from

the daily transition of thithi, day to night and day,

to the transition of paksha, lunar fortnights from waxing to waning to waxing,

to the transition of rtu, seasons,

to the transition of varsha, year,

to the transition of yuga, time cycles,

these transitions have all been continuously tracked, recorded, revered and observed by our ancestors all the way from 8000 years ago to the present generation of Indians even to this day.

Transition, Sandhi period

Transitions periods were cherished as poignant moments in space and time to take stock of one’s personal life vis-à-vis the space, time, environs and society, i.e entire Nature, around us and adjust our behaviour, attitude and approach to life thereon.

The concept of Sandhi, how it has was revered and celebrated, has been discussed in good detail in our latest book “2012-The Real Story”, which is part of the Bharath Gyan series.

When we talk of taking stock, there are various happenings and shifts that we need to take stock of.

Decentralization

The world in the last couple of hundred years has been going through a commercial era. It has also gone through a phase of colonization and fight for independence by many lands. The colonization and commercialization era led to the overbearing thought and practice of centralization of power and a centralized economic model therefore.

As the world steps out of the shadow of colonialism, it sees itself in a new light. While the world seems to be more connected, the increasing interdependency across lands, even for basic needs, which erodes into each nation’s economic insulation and quickly leads the entire world into waves of depression or boom, has started to cause concern.

As the world is slowly getting over the hangover of colonialism and its offshoot, the concept of centralization, we see more and more cases of fragmentation occurring, the world over.

We have seen colonialism itself breaking down with the independence movements in the various colonies, giving rise to independent nations.

We have seen large confederations such as USSR breaking up into constituent smaller nations.

We have seen larger states in India breaking up into smaller states.

We keep continually seeing demands, world over, by groups wanting their own state or nation inorder to govern themselves.

While many of these have taken the extreme shape of violent uprisings, most are an expression of the people’s innate desire to be free of hegemony and control.

It is an expression of their innate desire to control themselves.

It is an expression of their wanting their primary localized needs to be met by local production, local supply and local economies, over which they can have local control. Basically, call for a local administration for deploying available funds, for generating more funds, produce and services, to meet the local requirements with local priorities and local relevance.

Fundamentally, a more decentralized model.

When these cries are not listened to and instead suppressed, through usage of power or politics, it leads to violent uprisings.

If instead, this innate desire is steered in the right direction of a healthy, decentralized model of administration with a centralized oversight to keep them united, networked and interconnected through basic resource sharing and cultural bonds, it can lead to seeing prosperity and harmony.

Through many millennia too, people in many parts of the world, had enjoyed their respective, sustained prosperity for successive generations, mainly due to the practice of such a healthy, decentralized model.

It is just not a preferred, but a natural model for the coming age too. We discuss about this model in good detail in our book ‘You turn India’.

Isms of past

In the process of colonization and commercialization, the world went though many “isms”, successively one after the other and at times, concurrently too. Some of the prominent ones being, colonialism, capitalism, communism, socialism, mixed economy model is also an ism, so on and so forth.

In all these “isms” of economic models, the practices, the ideas that got marginalized were the crucial practices of sustainability with relevance and reverence to Nature, value for human life and human endeavour.

These words and the thought these words represent, are now slowly coming back in the discussions of economic models.

Most ancient civilizations which had their times of glory, were glorious because they focused on the model of sustainability with relevance to Nature and reverence for the humans who toiled in it.

Let us pause, think, take stock of the past and position ourselves for the future.

Let us ready ourselves to be part of the process to usher in a new era in the world for, in a way, we are in a Sandhi.

We can see that changes in many ways, are imminent. We can see that we are in the threshold of a new era – an era where old age mantras, come back as new age coinages.

Humanism model

Going forth, let us look forward to a harmonious, sustainable, interconnected future, through a new decentralized, economic and administration model based on humanism where humans, along with all other components of Nature, live in a harmonious, sustainable way.

Panguni Uthiram also known as Meena Uttara-phalguni in Samskrt. It falls on the day the moon transits in the asterism, nakshatra of Uttara-phalguni, Uthiram in the solar calendar (March–April). It is the full moon of the month of Panguni. Panguni is special because of the coming together of the star Uthiram and full moon Pournami.

Let us see as to how this day of Divine marriages is celebrated in North India, Central India and South India, across the land, across times.

Rama – Sita Marriage

The marriage of Rama and Sita was celebrated on Meena Uttara-phalguni at Janakpur, South Nepal.

Rama – Sita Marriage

Vijayanagar Kingdom

An epigraph of 1582 CE of the reign of the Vijayanagara King Sriranga Raya mentions an endowment for offerings to be made during this festival of Panguni Uthiram which is specially called Serakula-Nachiyar Panguni Uthiram Sathumurai. The images of Serakula Nachiyar and Senai Mudaliyar (Vishvaksena) are taken in procession to a garden named Dalavaya Toppu where offerings were made.

Kanchipuram Vishnu

In Varadaraja Swami Temple in Kanchipuram, the Panguni Pallava Utsavam lasts for seven days when the sacred text Hastigiri Mahatmyam (the sthala-Purana of this temple) is read in the 100 pillared mandapa in front of the deity.

Varadharaja Perumal with Thaayaar

Shiva – Kamakshi Marriage

Shakti Uma Devi performed puja for the Lord in the form of Devi Kamakshi. At the end, the wedding of Siva and Shakti took place here as prayed for by the celestials. An inscription on a gopuram of the Kamakshi Amman temple in Kanchipuram mentions a gift of two villages for Puja on the occasion of the Panguni Utsavam.

Shiva – Parvati

Murugan – Deivanai

Murugan – Deivanai

The word Murugan means ‘God of War’. The word also means ‘One who is very attractive to look’. Skanda, Subrahmanya and Karthikeya are among the other names of Murugan.

Deivanai is known as Devasena, Devayanai or Deivayanai in south-Indian texts. The Sanskrit name of the goddess Devasena means “army of the Divine” and thus, her husband is known as Devasenapati (“Lord of Devasena”). She is the adopted daughter of Indra and his wife Shachi. And she was raised by Indra’s white elephant Airavata. Deivanai or Deivayanai in Tamil, literally meaning “celestial elephant”.

Their marriage is celebrated on Panguni Uthiram day.

Deivanai-Indra-Murugan

In Sangam Literature

In the Ahananuru, a Tamil work of the Sangam period, there is a mention about a festival in Panguni which is equated to Uthira Vizha.

We see here from Rama and Sita, Vishnu and Lakshmi, Shiva and Kamakshi, Muruga and Deivanai all this marriages are celebrated on this Divine Marriage Day.

Bharath Gyan is conceptualized by D. K. Hari and D. K. Hema Hari with the objective to scientifically collate and disseminate the knowledge of India and its ties with other civilizations from ancient to modern times